Ashes-winning coach Flower in line for national selector job
ANDY FLOWER has emerged as the leading contender to become England’s new national selector. As England coach from 2009 to 2014, Flower won three consecutive Ashes series as well as the World Twenty20 in 2010. Since stepping down he has been in charge of the England Lions. The national selector role will take on a higher profile and greater accountability than in its previous guise and the Zimbabwean’s credentials match those highlighted by England team director Andrew Strauss when he announced an overhaul of the selection system coinciding with the departure of previous incumbent James Whitaker last month.
‘Clearly, we are looking for a person who is an excellent judge of talent and character, and has experience in both talent identification and the international game,’ said Strauss, who was captain for most of Flower’s England tenure. At a time when the England Test team needs major surgery there is no one better positioned than Flower, 49, to judge those players possessing both the ability and temperament to cope at the highest level. Throughout the last four-year Ashes cycle he oversaw the development of the next generation at the ECB’s national
performance centre. Strauss’s intention is to streamline the movement of players from Under 19 to full international level. The successful candidate will choose an independent selector to work on a new threestrong panel also featuring England coach Trevor Bayliss. They will also liaise with Mo Bobat, the ECB’s player identification lead, whose knowledge of American scouting programmes is designed to modernise selection practices. Mick Newell, invited to apply for the main job by Strauss, is known to be happy to relinquish his ties with Nottinghamshire — where he is director of cricket — should he be invited to re-join the selection set-up.